INTERSECT
Newsletter of the Washington Regional Network For Livable
Communities
Volume 6 Number 7
October 25, 2002
Support Intersect, join WRN!
Summary:
* WRN Forum: Neighborhood Parking Solutions, November
7
* Virginia Tax Referendum: Which Benefits: Transit
or Sprawl?
* Residents and Planners Work Together to Plan
Better Rhode Island Avenue Metro Station Area
* Parking Solutions are Found in Managing Demand
as Well as Supply
* D.C. Housing Trust Fund Slashed to $5 million
* Comprehensive Sprawl Study Ranks Metropolitan Areas
* Smart Growth Development Recognition Program
Accepting Applications
* Upcoming Events
* Webpage Volunteer Needed
* Support Intersect, Join WRN - Thank you's &
Contribution Form
Neighborhood Parking Solutions
A WRN forum with Adam Millard-Ball of Nelson\Nygaard Consulting
Introduction by D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham
Thursday, November 7, 2002
at the Sumner School, 1201 17th Street, NW, D.C.
(at M Street, near Dupont Circle Metro, South Exit)
Refreshments: 6:30pm, Program: 7pm
Join Adam Millard-Ball, a San Francisco-based transportation planner
with Nelson\Nygaard Consulting, to learn about the latest innovative
policies to manage parking to promote vibrant, livable communities.
RSVP to WRN at: 202-667-5445, staff@washingtonregion.net.
Virginia Tax Referendum
Which Benefits: Transit or Sprawl?
by Meghan Clarke
On September 12, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Administration
(WMATA) announced a revised 10-year, $12 billion plan for Metrorail
and Metrobus. Included in the plan is $3.3 billion for the Infrastructure
Replacement Program (essential maintenance), $2.9 billion for rail cars
and other upgrades to handle projected ridership growth, and the remainder
for rail expansion. The Northern Virginia Journal noted that "Infrastructure
renewal costs alone would increase from the $235 million projected for
fiscal year 2003 to $385 million by 2007 in incremental steps. These
costs are expected to level off at $435 million for the balance of the
program."
While proponents of the Northern Virginia Sale Tax referendum have
used transit as the top selling point, less than 5% of the package is
going to these essential Metro needs. The system requires $6.2 billion
to meet essential maintenance needs and ridership growth over the next
10 years. But the sales tax earmarks just $12.5 million per year, $250
million over 20 years.
Metrorail cars cost about $1.8 million each. Roger Diedrich, Land Use
Chair, Virginia Chapter of Sierra Club notes, "Even if the $12.5
million was only spent on rail cars, the sales tax could only provide
7 cars each year. Considering the money also would have to be spent
fixing escalators and elevators, Metro riders will continue to face
crowded rides each morning."
The Coalition for Smarter Growth opposes the tax referendum because
according to executive director Stewart Schwartz, it fails to reflect
the principles of a smart growth blueprint that makes the best use of
the existing system while providing people with alternatives to motor
vehicles. David Snyder, City of Falls Church Councilmember, while a
proponent of the referendum, also expressed concern about the tax hike's
priorities: "The problem is we don't really know what is going
to be built when. And whether those things that are transit and smart
growth are going to be built first or if they will be built 15 or 20
years down the road when our problems have been allowed to deteriorate.
So in my view the most important thing is no matter how you feel about
the referendum, if the additional resources are provided, we have to
have a priority process to make sure that projects supporting transit
and alternatives to motor vehicles are actually the ones that are built
first and there is no guarantee of that now."
Schwartz emphasized that the sales tax will not adequately address
the most urgent transit needs facing Metro -- maintaining present infrastructure
while dealing with the increasing demands on the Metrorail system. On
November 5th Northern Virginia voters will have to decide if they trust
the promises of government officials who assert that the new tax will
help achieve traffic relief and increased investment in transit. Smart
growth advocates and environmentalists believe the tax hike will simply
throw billions of dollars into expanding capacity, condemning the region
to many more years of sprawl development and ever-increasing traffic
congestion.
Residents and Planners Work
Together to Plan Better Rhode Island Avenue
Metro Station Area
by Cheryl Cort
Walking along the railroad tracks on Saturday morning, August 28th,
neighbors of the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station pointed out all the
popular illegal crossings. While hundreds or more people cross the tracks
just north of the Metro station, only adventurous children cross to
the south, according to tour participants. This site visit was part
of a community-visioning workshop convened by WRN. The workshop was
designed to help residents adjacent to the Rhode Island Avenue Metro
Station provide input on the planned Metropolitan Branch Trail along
the railroad tracks, the housing and retail development plans for the
Metro station, and identify improvements for the pedestrian environment
along Rhode Island Avenue.
After a brief "virtual tour" powerpoint presentation by WRN
that used photographs of the area to highlight some of the good and
bad aspects, workshop participants - area residents and volunteer planners
and designers - broke into two groups. One group focused on the Metropolitan
Branch Trail and another looked at Rhode Island Avenue and the Metro
parking lot to review site plans for development proposed by Mid-City
Urban, a private development company. Each group then spent the next
hour walking around their study areas and discussing potential improvements.
When they returned to the workshop space, the groups looked at aerial
photos, maps, and site plans and continued to discuss and refine their
proposals for improving the area.
Edgewood neighborhood residents identified the stretch between 4th
and 10th Streets, NE along Rhode Island Avenue as a dirty, unpleasant
walk, alongside speeding cars. According to the maps provided by the
D.C. Office of Planning, this section of Rhode Island Avenue appears
to have more curb cuts and driveways than continuous sidewalks. Long-time
neighborhood residents complained of too many automobile-oriented businesses
along Rhode Island Avenue that make their walks to the Metro station
hazardous.
The sidewalks in the underpass to the Metro station were thought to
be too narrow, and lacked the buffering of parked cars during rush hour.
Participants noted that parts of the sidewalk have improved in recent
years, and that next to the underpass, a stone wall had been built to
replace a gravel lot, making the area feel better defined for pedestrians.
Closing up unused curb cuts, re-timing traffic signals to allow pedestrians
to reach the other side of the street, and creating corner bulb-outs
to slow speeding cars around turns were identified as helpful measures
that could improve the pedestrian environment. Edgewood Terrace resident
Veronica Jackson suggested that art around the overpass might make the
passageway not seem so gloomy. WRN is working with participants to follow
up on their recommendations with D.C. Department of Transportation.
While Rhode Island Avenue remains an important walking route for residents,
many visitors and residents take a shortcut across the railroad tracks
to cross between the Metro station and the west side of the tracks.
Walking the rail right of way and future Metropolitan Branch Trail with
D.C. trail planner, Chris Holben, a number of residents said that some
of their children use the rail crossing shortcut. On the walk and subsequent
mapping session, residents suggested optimal access points to the planned
trail, stairs connecting Edgewood Terrace to the Rhode Island Avenue
Shopping Center, and the best location and configuration for a pedestrian
bridge that could connect the trail directly to the Metro station. According
to rough estimates by Holben, if a direct pedestrian route were available,
the walk between Edgewood Terrace and the Metro station could be cut
from 20 to about 6 minutes.
After visiting the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station parking lot, participants
pored over site plans and suggested ways to make the development more
pedestrian-oriented. Working with workshop participants, volunteer landscape
architects and planners and planners from the D.C. Office of Planning
provided several design revisions to the development proposal. These
proposals were given to the President of Mid-City Urban, Vicki Davis,
who expressed genuine interest in the design recommendations.
While funding for pedestrian access improvements remains uncertain,
the D.C. government and Metro are moving ahead with plans to replace
all existing parking at the Metro station at a cost of approximately
$4 million. Over 50 percent of cars parked in the lot are from Maryland.
The D.C. government is considering using Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
to finance the construction of the commuter parking. Neither Metro nor
the City has evaluated whether $4 million spent on commuter parking
is the most cost-effective way to increase access to the station and
boost ridership. The parking garage will clearly not benefit the residents
of Edgewood Terrace and nearby blocks, where approximately 58 percent
of households do not own a single car. WRN continues to work with nearby
residents to ask WMATA and the City to put a higher priority on safe
and convenient pedestrian access to the station, rather than subsidized
parking for out of state drivers.
The August 28 workshop follows up WRN's August 8 community forum that
provided general information on transit-oriented development, a presentation
by the Metro site developer, and the D.C. government's plans for a trail
and pedestrian bridge to give residents the opportunity to learn about
upcoming changes in their community.
Parking Solutions are Found
in Managing Demand as Well as Supply
Opinion by Cheryl Cort
Sometimes it seems that housing for cars is more important than housing
for people,
affordable housing activists in San Francisco and other places have
observed. At a D.C. Council committee hearing on parking policy for
the District on October 2, this also appeared to be the case.
Some on the Council discussed how parking is a great problem for all
residents. While many D.C. residents own cars, many do not. According
to the 2000 census, 37 percent of all D.C. households do not own a single
car. Given that over one-third of D.C. residents are not car owners,
fair parking solutions need to represent the interests of non-car owners
as well as car owners.
Councilmember Jim Graham, observed that the issue of parking was part
of a larger question. He recommended reexamining the role of the automobile
in a vibrant city, and suggested better use of transit as a big part
of the solution. Graham also asked about innovative use of parking meters
in residential neighborhoods experiencing commercial spillover parking,
allowing residents with permits to park for free, while charging visitors.
Subsidizing parking, or hiding its costs, causes excessive demand,
disadvantages those who do not drive, and increases pollution and traffic.
Because of all these negative effects, it is imperative that D.C. better
manage demand and supply, and create pricing strategies for on and off
street parking that account for all of these concerns. Through better
pricing and enhanced alternatives to driving and car ownership, we can
benefit everyone. More parking can be available for those who really
want it, and more non-driving options can be available to those who
depend on walking and transit, or prefer not to drive.
Requiring higher amounts of off street parking to be built for new
or renovated housing adds to already high housing prices. By driving
up the cost of housing with too much parking (a parking space can cost
upwards of $30,000), we close off families' choices for saving money.
We need to manage this scarce and costly resource, fairly allocate it,
and invest in alternative transportation options.
Here are some of the many ways the City could solve parking problems
while saving money and fairly addressing the needs of all D.C. residents:
* Under zoning regulations, we could reduce parking required for new
development and require developers to subsidize car-sharing, such as
ZipCar and FlexCar, transit passes, convenient bicycle storage, and
pedestrian improvements.
* Residential parking permits could be managed through graduated fees
based on the number of permits per household and length of the vehicle.
We could allow non-car owning households to sell their permits to car-owning
neighbors.
* Enable tenants and homeowners to rent or purchase parking separately
from the housing itself - so they can choose to save money on car ownership.
* Use meters or other pricing measures more extensively to control parking
demand and turnover - especially around Metro stations and business
districts that claim to have insufficient amounts of parking.
* "Smart meters" that cost more the longer your park.
* Require all office buildings to have "transportation demand management
plans" that quantify reductions in auto trips. Employers should
offer transit subsidies, parking cash out, and should pay an "air
pollution" fee for each parking space offered for free to workers.
Office buildings should include showers for bicyclists, and secure bicycle
parking. D.C. should learn from Arlington County's successful transportation
demand management programs.
* Restaurants and clubs can create taxi fare programs, shared valet
parking and shared parking facilities with existing day-time parking
facilities. Often, plenty of parking exists but is unavailable to customers
at the right time. It is far cheaper to make existing resources available
than to build more parking.
* And yes, effective enforcement is important to the success of many
of the solutions mentioned above.
By better managing demand and supporting neighborhood and environmentally-friendly
alternatives, we can improve mobility and give everyone better choices.
Overemphasizing increased parking supply only gives us more traffic
and air pollution, and leaves us right where we started - with not enough
parking for drivers and fewer housing opportunities in walkable, transit-accessible
neighborhoods.
For more information about parking policy and innovative solutions,
see:
Parking Policies for Smart Growth, by Adam Millard-Ball, Nelson Nygaard
Consulting. http://www.nelsonnygaard.com/articles/cur_article_parking.htm
Parking Solutions: A Comprehensive Menu of Solutions to Parking Problems.
TDM Encyclopedia, Victoria Transport Policy Institute. http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm72.htm
"Roughly Right or Precisely Wrong" by Donald Shoup, ACCESS
No. 20 Spring 2002. UCLA professor shows that unwarranted trust in the
precise prescriptions from the Institute of Transportation Engineers
(ITE) manuals about travel behavior can lead to bad transportation,
parking and land-use policies. http://www.uctc.net/access/access.html.
Berkeley Downtown/Southside Transportation Demand Management Study:
multimodal strategies allow increased development on campus and downtown
Berkeley without increased traffic congestion. http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/planning/advance/TDM/tdmnoti.htm
Residential Parking, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California
(NPH) created a set of interactive tools for planners, developers, advocates
and public officials to communicate the impact of minimum parking requirements
on the affordability and availability of housing. http://www.nonprofithousing.org/actioncenter/toolbox/parking/index.atomic
D.C. Housing Trust Fund Slashed
to $5 Million
by Janet W. Brown
D.C.'s commitment to funding affordable housing slipped again. The D.C.
Council's budget deal, passed on October 1, reduces the Housing Production
Trust Fund, which promotes construction of affordable housing for low-
and moderate-income residents, from $11.5 million to $5 million. Earlier
this year, the Trust Fund's budget was cut from $23 million to $11.5
million. The latest reduction by the Council, leaves the Housing Production
Trust Fund with less than one-fourth of its initial funding.
In August, for the first time in many years, the city announced the
availability of $35 million in assistance for affordable housing projects,
mostly from the recently revived Housing Production Trust Fund. At the
deadline for receipt of proposals in mid-October, the Department of
Housing and Community Development, which administers the Fund, received
59 responses requesting over $86 million in financial assistance. Both
the Department and housing activists were encouraged by the developers'
response.
The Trust Fund was supposed to be a dedicated funding source, based
on a 15 percent allocation of two real estate fee and tax revenue streams.
Housing advocates question if cutting the Fund sends a signal that the
Mayor and Council are not truly committed to reliable funding levels.
Housing advocates also expressed concern about how much support will
be directed to projects, including rental housing, reaching the lowest-income
groups, as the new Housing Act of 2002 requires. Housing advocates,
who helped focus the Trust Fund and other provisions of the law on meeting
the needs of the most needy, hope the intent of the law will be followed.
The city's request for proposals, however, and the revised regulations
gave no priority and made no concessions to developers who would build
projects for very low-income families. City administrators have voiced
their preference for building moderate- and middle-income homes, because
they can build more units with the funds available.
The District's situation illustrates an area-wide dilemma: while the
lowest-income groups are most vulnerable in the current real-estate
market, and are found living under the worst conditions and crowding,
jurisdictions are challenged to provide significantly larger subsidies
to provide housing affordable to very low-income households.
Comprehensive Sprawl Study Ranks
Metropolitan Areas: D.C. region scores badly
by John Bailey
The Washington metropolitan area gets low scores on a new index measuring
metropolitan sprawl, according to a new national study that finds that
people who live in more sprawling places drive more, face a greater
risk of dying in a traffic crash, and breathe more polluted air. The
report, Measuring Sprawl and Its Impact released by Smart Growth America,
ranks the Washington region as the 28th most sprawling area in the country.
"For the first time we are able to define sprawl objectively so
we can see how it measures up," said Don Chen, Executive Director
of Smart Growth America. "What this study tells us is that sprawl
has a direct and negative impact on our everyday lives."
"This report shows that the high degree of sprawl in the Washington
region is hurting our quality of life," said Stewart Schwartz,
executive director of Coalition for Smarter Growth. "The only reason
we are not in worse shape is that in some areas we did the right thing
by focusing, mixed-use walkable development near our Metro stations."
The new index issues five sprawl scores for each metropolitan area
and ranks them. This sprawl index looks at residential density, the
mix of homes and other land uses, the strength of town centers and the
accessibility of the street network, as well as an overall ranking.
The Washington region also did poorly in all of the other measures,
scoring third highest average commute time in the country with an average
time of 32.66 hours. The Washington region ranks in the top 20 for bad
air quality due to sprawl and has a fairly high ranking on vehicle miles
traveled per capita, which is 22.8 miles.
In addition, the research found sprawl to lack even the one benefit
defenders most often attribute to it: lower congestion. People in sprawling
areas endure no less traffic-related delay than those in more compact
places, but have fewer alternatives in travel routes and modes, the
study found.
To read the report and metro facts sheets for all 83 regions studied,
visit http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org.
Smart Growth Development
Recognition Program Accepting Applications
Applications are now being accepted for the Smart Growth Alliance Recognition
Program. December 15, 2002 is the due date for Review Period Four. Applicants
who submit between September 17 and December 16 will be notified by
January 20, 2003.
The Smart Growth Alliance is made up of the Urban Land Institute Washington,
Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Greater Washington Board of Trade, Coalition
for Smarter Growth, and the Metropolitan Washington Builders' Council.
WRN participates as an alternate juror for the Recognition Program.
The SGA created the Smart Growth Recognition Program to encourage the
approval of development projects that foster smart growth. By recognizing
outstanding project proposals, the SGA hopes to inform regulators, public
officials, citizen groups, developers, and others of the advantages
these projects bring to a community and region.
Each quarter, the SGA will recognize private sector smart growth project
proposals in the Washington area that are currently or soon will be
reviewed by local government regulatory agencies. Applications must
show that the project meets criteria related to location; density, design,
and diversity of uses; transportation, mobility, and accessibility;
environmental conservation; and contributions to community assets.
For more information see: http://washington.uli.org/sga,
or contact: sga@uli.org.
Election Day is November 5th
Don't forget to vote on November 5th for candidates and referenda in
support of better public transit, pedestrian and bicycle facilities,
affordable housing, transit-oriented development, and protection of
parks and rural resource lands.
Events
Wednesday, October 30, 2002, 5pm to 8pm. Design Public Hearing Route
50 Traffic Calming. Design public hearing to review and discuss preliminary
plans for the proposed traffic calming of Route 50 from the village
of Paris in Fauquier County (Intersection Route 759) to the village
of Lenah (Intersection Route 600) in Loudoun and Fauquier counties.
Open style forum style meeting. Middleburg Community Center, 300 West
Washington Street, Middleburg Virginia. For more details: http://virginiadot.org/projects/resources/PIM-newDesignRte50Loudon.pdf
Wednesday, October 30, 2002, 11:30am Meet and Greet; noon Lunch. Health
Effects of Sprawl. Women's Transportation Seminar monthly program on
how our environment directly affects our health. Come and learn what
the medical and health community is finding about the relationship between
our transportation network and health concerns. The Hotel Washington,
15th and Pennsylvania, NW. Cost: $20 members; $25 non-members; $15 students.
RSVP: wtsdcprogram@onebox.com
Questions: Leigh Smyth, (202) 682-4843.
Thursday, November 7, 6:30pm. Neighborhood Parking Solutions: A WRN
Forum with Adam Millard-Ball of Nelson\Nygaard Consulting. The Sumner
School, 1201 17th Street, NW, D.C. (Dupont Circle Metro). RSVP to WRN
at: 202-667-5445, staff@washingtonregion.net.
Tuesday, November 12, 2002, 7:30pm to 9pm. Regional Forum on Pedestrian
Safety for Fairfax County. Pedestrian activists and county and state
official will come together to discuss ways to improve pedestrian safety
on roads like Route 1. Knights of Columbus Hall, 8592 Richmond Highway
(Route 1) Alexandria, Virginia. For more information contact John Swanson
at TPB staff at 202-962-3295 or jswanson@mwcog.org.
Monday, November 18, 2002, 12:30pm-1:30pm. 2002 National Award for
Smarth Growth Achievement, The awards will recognize state, regional
and local governments that promote and achieve smart growth. National
Building Museum, 401 F Street N.W, Washington D.C. (Judiciary Square
Metro). The event is sponsored by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
and is free. To register, please send an e-mail including your name
and affiliation and the number of people in your party to: smartgrowth.awards@epa.gov.
Wednesday, December 4, 2002, 8:30am to 4pm. Charrettes 101: Best Practices
and Lessons Learned, hosted by The National Charrette Institute. Learn
the theory of facilitating transformative community change, what a Charrette
is and when it can be used, the tools and techniques for planning and
running a Charrette, and lessons learned from other Charrettes. Charles
Sumner School, Washington DC. Cost: $295 professionals, $175 non-profits.
Register through NCI's website: http://www.charretteinstitute.org/.
Questions: info@charretteinstitute.org
Volunteer Opportunities
Webpage volunteer needed: WRN is seeking volunteer assistance to help
revamp our webpage
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WRN thanks FlexCar for its support for WRN's programs advocating for
livable communities in the Washington, D.C. region.
._______________________________________________________________________
WRN advocates transportation investments, land use
policies, and community designs that enhance existing communities and the
environment of the National Capital Region.
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and articles welcome.
Washington
Regional Network For Livable Communities
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Church Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036
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